


Accidentally Intertwined

by alexcat



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Fluff and Angst, M/M, Post-Endgame, Pre-Slash, Stranded
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-05
Updated: 2019-02-05
Packaged: 2019-10-22 20:15:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17669318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alexcat/pseuds/alexcat
Summary: Stark and Strange are quarantined together after Titan and endgame.





	Accidentally Intertwined

**Author's Note:**

  * For [28ghosts](https://archiveofourown.org/users/28ghosts/gifts).



Life had not been fun for Stephen Strange since the snap. Life hadn’t been fun for Stephen Strange since he ran the car off the road. But it had certainly been interesting. 

And it was about to become even more so. 

When he’d gotten back to earth, he hadn’t expected to be quarantined, but here he was. The government and SHIELD had made a concession and allowed those who had been on Titan to be quarantined at the Avengers headquarters in New York for sixty days. 

He was stuck here with the crew of the Milano, the blue woman, Peter Parker and Stark. Quill and Nebula seemed content to argue among themselves, becoming quite loud now and again. Drax and Mantiss were cooing at each other quite a lot, sometimes quite humorously. Peter Parker followed Stark around like a lost puppy, chattering constantly. 

That left him to brood alone most of the time, which was all right with him. He was good at brooding. 

He was able to communicate with the New York Sanctum and with the one in Hong Kong so that was something. Things were quiet, but he certainly didn’t expect them to stay that way. An incursion like Thanos would embolden any others set on conquest and, eventually, they would come. He also had no doubt that he was would have to deal with Mordo in the future as well.

Right now, he had to cool his heels here in this training facility.

He was looking at some MRI scans that Christine had sent him. She still occasionally asked him for help on a case. When she first did this, he got angry, called and screamed at her. Later, he realized that he was being an ass and apologized, agreeing to look at something if she thought his expertise could aid her patient. 

“So is your ‘magic’ magic or is it just another kind of science?” 

He looked up from his tablet and there stood Tony Stark. 

“The mind has powers that you cannot fathom, Stark. There are realities out there beyond even your comprehension.”

“Not any more, pal,” Stark said and sat down by him. “I went to an alien planet. I saw people turn to dust, saw you turn to dust and now you’re alive. Not much surprises me.”

“Point taken.”

“I – I never thanked you.” 

“For what?” 

“Saving me.”

“I didn’t do for you, and you kinda did thank me,” Strange reminded him. 

“But you still did it.” 

They looked at one another until the silence grew too long and Stark looked away. “Here’s the thing. I feel that you have the wrong idea about me.”

“What idea is that?” 

“That I’m shallow, trivial.”

Strange didn’t say anything for a long minute. Stark was not far from what _he_ had been himself. “Are you shallow? Trivial?” 

“I’ve never thought so.”

“Neither did I, but I was. I found that out when the thing I thought defined me was gone.” He saw a spark of recognition in Stark’s eyes. 

“In Afghanistan, I began to see there was more. These last few years, the people, their sacrifices. Rogers, Rhodey, Vision, Wanda… they made my vanity seem silly.”

Perhaps there was a little more to this man than he thought. “I first thought of it as myself having a higher calling,” Strange said, closing the tablet and giving his full attention to Stark. “But then I realized that I _served_ a higher calling. I am but a cog in the wheel.”

Stark smiled, not the fake smile he flashed so often, but one that reached those dark, dark eyes. “You, uh, eat? The kitchen here is still stocked like an army lives here. Wanna see what we can find?” 

“Why not? Since I moved into the Sanctum, it’s been all deli for us. Wong doesn’t cook, and I can’t boil water.”

“I think between us, with all our Phds and Mds, we should be able to make some sandwiches. There might even be some chips in bags.” Tony motioned for Strange to follow him. 

The two made sandwiches, and little by little, let their guard down. Neither would ever be an open book to anyone, but they did talk of Titan. Strange talked of the solution that he’d seen and how it had played out. 

“Would you have told me if you hadn’t – what – faded?” Tony asked him. 

“If I’d told you, it wouldn’t have worked out like it did.”

“It didn’t come off very smoothly though, did it?” There were a million tears in the words left unspoken. 

“No. I’m afraid not. But it was, in the end, the only solution.” 

“Beer?” Tony asked.

“Got any good Scotch?” In his former life, he’d liked a good single malt. 

“I do. It’s in my workshop. Let’s make some food and go to the workshop. It’s more home than anywhere else in this building.”

They did just that. On the way to the elevator, Stark finally said, “This building is haunted with memories for me. So many memories…”

Strange did something very out of character for the reserved doctor. He touched Stark’s shoulder in a small gesture of sympathy. Stark nodded, his own acknowledgment of how much the world had changed for him and for everyone. 

Tony grabbed two heavy tumblers from the bar and opened the Scotch, pouring them both a generous portion. He handed Strange one glass and picked up the other for himself. 

“To a world without Thanos,” Stark said. 

Strange clanked glasses with him and they sipped their scotch. 

Strange looked around. “So this is your workshop?”

“Yep. I spent more time in the one in Avengers Tower, but this one has seen some action, too.”

“Are you and Miss Potts -”

“No. I’m afraid Miss Potts has decided that she can’t live with a man who’d hop on an alien ship and leave the planet without letting her know. I certainly don’t blame her. She and I make much better friends than we do a couple. Is there someone in your life?”

Strange shook his head. “Dr. Christine Palmer was my girlfriend before the accident. I was mean as hell to her after and she finally left me. I’m lucky that we are still friends. I was a real asshole.”

“Maybe what we do,” he waved his hand around, “makes us impossible to live with.” 

Strange nodded and they drank, food forgotten for a while. 

Days passed and the two of them became friends, perhaps out of necessity, maybe more. They discussed their relationships a lot. Perhaps they both needed catharsis, maybe they were just lonely. For whatever reason, they began to feel a certain connection. 

Strange began thinking of Tony as more. He hadn’t told Tony that there had been men in his life as well as women. He hadn’t told Tony how truly lonely he felt except for the time they talked and spent together. He tried to deny these things, even to himself. 

But he thought of Tony, of those flashing brown eyes, the way they crinkled in the corners when his smile was real. He liked the expensive cologne that Stark wore, even when dressed in a threadbare heavy metal shirt and awful jogging pants that looked like they should have been thrown out in the 90s. He liked the way those work roughened engineer’s hands could do things he couldn’t, and that Stark never looked at him with pity. 

It was the dream that finally made him act. He dreamed of being in bed with Stark and the dream was more vivid and real than much of his reality in the last few years. He woke horny and lonely, lonelier than he’d felt since he woken with all the pins in his hands. 

What was he going to do? 

They went to the gym early every day, Tony liked the weights and Stephen rode the stationary bike or used the treadmill. This particular day, Stephen found himself spotting for Tony as he lay on the bench and lifted a rather heavy dumbbell. He caught Stark staring at his body as he leaned close to help place the weight back on the upright bar. 

After they were done and heading to their own quarters to shower before meeting again to make breakfast, Tony said, “Thanks for spotting for me.” 

That was new. Strange smiled to himself and showered quickly once in his quarters. His hair was still damp when they arrived at the kitchen at the same time. Tony’s was, too, and he had on the cologne that Stephen liked. 

“I’ll be glad when we get out of here,” Stark said as he made Strange’s coffee first. “Fresh air would be good.” 

“Where will you go?”

“Probably back to the city. Pepper doesn’t need me in LA to run the company, so maybe I’ll go back to the lab and work on some upgrades for Rhodey and some new exoskeletons for other paraplegics. Probably something for kids. Need to find something that grows with them for a few years since they cost so much in the first place.” 

“You surprise me, Stark. I think I have you figured then boom, you’re different.” 

“I got interested when I built the suit for Rhodey. Doesn’t seem fair to keep tech like that to myself.” 

“I’m going to miss this, miss you.” That was as much as he dared. Gone was the doctor who used women for arm candy and discarded them. 

“I’ll be close by. You can come over. We can eat Stark Raving Hazelnuts.”

“Hulk-a-Hulk of Burning Fudge for me,” Strange answered with a laugh.

“Not sure I can take that.” 

“It’s better than your chalky namesake!” 

“You can come see me… and we’re still here. Got a few more weeks.” 

Tony handed him his coffee and their hands touched – just barely, but they touched. Strange almost jerked his hand back. The coffee cup itself stopped that. No one had touched his hands since – no one had touched him at all in so long that he didn’t remember. 

Stark pulled his hand back. “Uh -”

“It’s okay. Just a bit of a shock. Being touched.”

“Yeah, I don’t touch much either. Being tortured kind of spoils you for casual touching.”

Strange bit his lip and set down his cup. He reached out a slightly trembling hand to Stark’s hand. Instead of just allowing the touch, Tony took Stephen’s hand in his, held it for a moment then intertwined their fingers. 

“They are battered, aren’t they?” Tony asked quietly. “Do they hurt still?”

“New York winter makes them hurt. I drink lots of hot tea, cocoa, anything with a warm cup to wrap my hands around.” 

Tony held the hand up and looked at the scars, tracing them with the index finger of his other hand. His hands were warm. He looked over the hand he held and into Stephen’s eyes. 

“I’m going to kiss you, I think,” Tony said quietly. 

“I’m going to let you.” 

“Then I wasn’t wrong. I – it’s in your eyes.”

“I don’t want to be alone. Being whatever I was when I was dust – it changed me. It made me not want to be alone all the time,” Strange finally said. “My own company is not as desirable as it once was.”

“Mine either. I watched you all fade to dust and I couldn’t do _anything_ , but I can do this.” Tony leaned close and touched his lips to Stephen’s. The kiss was brief and sweet. It was their hands… Stephen squeezed Tony’s hand gently, conveying more than any words could. 

Neither of them would have to be alone for a while.


End file.
